Officer Bob Harris of the Colorado Springs Police Department captured the attention of a full audience with his June 7 presentation at the†Black Forest AARP Chapter #1100 meeting. Officer Harris focused on recent mail, email and telephone scams and identification theft ploys currently making the rounds. He discussed bogus callers who claim to be from the Internal Revenue Service, callers pretending to be a child or relative stranded or in trouble in a†foreign country, and the ubiquitous ìyou have just won a foreign lotteryî scam. He also said it is hard to track down the†perpetrators because they can manipulate the phone system to mask the callerís location; and also many calls come in from foreign countries — outside of the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement agencies. Harris said these people scam thousands of†dollars each day, even if they only dupe one or two from the hundreds of people they call.† † † † †Chapter members were surprised to learn that the largest number of auto break-ins occur in church parking lots because the†cars will likely be unguarded during church services. He also noted that individuals often do not lock their cars at churches. Less surprising, he said the No. 2 and No. 3 top locations for auto break-ins occur at public open spaces and shopping malls.† † † † †After the usual chapter potluck lunch, members discussed plans for the upcoming community service activities of the chapter, which will participate in the Aug. 13 Black Forest Festival.†For information on chapter events and activities, contact Chuck at 719-749-922 or visit the chapter website at†http://aarpchapter1100blackforest.weebly.com/index.html
